Donald Trump, Jr. has been temporarily suspended from Twitter after he posted a tweet that violates the company’s rules against spreading false information about the coronavirus.
“The account will be suspended for 12 hours,” VICE reports, “during which time Don Jr. will be barred from posting new messages, liking or retweeting other posts. He will still be allowed to use Twitter’s Direct Message service to contact his followers. A Twitter spokesperson said this was not a suspension, that it was a ‘temporary lockout until the Tweet is deleted—not a suspension.'”
The offending tweet Trump Jr. posted has been deleted.
It included a link to a video that “showed a group of people dressed in white lab coats claiming to be from an organization called ‘America’s Frontline Doctors.’ The video, which was live-streamed by right-wing news outlet Breitbart, contained people claiming masks were not needed and that hydroxychloroquine was a ‘cure,'” VICE adds.
GOP strategist Andrew Surabian, called “Steve Bannon’s political right hand” by POLITICO, posted the message Trump Jr. purportedly received. He wrongly claims Twitter is engaging in “open election interference.”
President Trump overnight retweeted at least one of his son’s tweets that linked to the video. Twitter deleted the retweet.